You should probably watch this if you have a soft spot for silent films that feel like they were actually filmed in the middle of nowhere. If you hate slow movies where people just walk next to wagons for ten minutes at a time, you will probably be bored out of your mind. 🌵
I sat down with this one not expecting much more than a standard 'bad guys vs. good guys' story. But it is actually a bit more thoughtful than that, mostly because of how it handles the wagon train people.
Anders Randolf is in this, and he has one of those faces that was just *built* for the silent era. He can look more threatening by just narrowing his eyes than most modern actors can by screaming their heads off.
Then you have Ben Lyon and Marie Prevost, who bring a bit of 'movie star' energy to the dirt and the grime. I kept thinking about how clean Ben Lyon's hair looked despite the fact that they are supposed to be trekking through a wasteland.
Marie Prevost is always a win for me, honestly. If you've seen her in
Sally, Irene and Mary, you know she has this way of looking at the camera that makes you feel like she is in on a joke that nobody else knows yet.
In this one, she’s a bit more serious, but that spark is still there under the bonnet. The plot is pretty simple: three outlaws join the pioneers to rob them.
But the movie takes its sweet time getting to the actual 'robbing' part. It is more interested in the daily grind of the trail, which I actually liked alot.
There is this one scene where a wagon wheel gets stuck in the mud, and you can see the real physical effort the extras are putting in. It doesn't feel like a Hollywood set; it feels like they just found a muddy ditch and told everyone to start pushing.
I noticed the shadows in the desert scenes are incredibly long and sharp. It gives the whole thing this lonely, almost scary feeling, like the landscape is bigger than the characters could ever be.
It reminded me a bit of the atmosphere in
The Last Man, even though that is a totally different kind of movie. There is just this heavy sense of *waiting* for something bad to happen.
The 'Four Hawks' are credited in the cast, which is a vocal quartet. Since this is a silent movie (mostly), it is funny to see them standing there 'singing' while we just read the lyrics on the title cards.
I imagine back in 1929, maybe there was a live band or a record playing along with it. Without the sound, they just look like four guys having a very intense conversation with their mouths open.
One thing that bothered me was how quickly the outlaws started to turn 'soft.' It felt like one conversation with a nice lady and suddenly they aren't sure about the whole stealing thing anymore.
I like a good redemption story, but this one happened so fast it made my head spin. One minute they are sneering at everyone, and the next they are basically choir boys.
There is a specific shot of a campfire at night where the light flickers on Russell Simpson's face. He looks so tired and old, and it really sells the idea that these people were risking everything for a piece of land.
Jim Mason plays one of the outlaws and he has this twitchy energy that I really enjoyed. He looks like he wants to bolt into the bushes every time someone looks at him too long.
Sometimes the title cards are a bit too wordy. I found myself reading three paragraphs of text just to find out that it was 'now morning.'
But that is just how these things were back then. You have to be in the right mood for it, I guess.
The ending feels a bit rushed, like they realized they were running out of film and needed to wrap up the robbery plot in five minutes. It is a bit of a letdown after such a slow and careful buildup.
Still, the images of the wagons stretching out across the horizon are hard to forget. It’s got that raw, pioneer spirit that you don't really see in the later, more polished Westerns of the 40s and 50s.
Its not a masterpiece, but it’s a solid way to spend an afternoon if you want to see what movies looked like before they got all loud and fast. I don't think I'll watch it again soon, but I'm glad I saw it once. 📽️
If you are looking for something with a bit more bite, mabye skip this and find a gritty noir. But for a Sunday morning with a coffee, it works just fine.
